Best Community Colleges in Maryland 2025

Badge for BEST IN MARYLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Published: Mar 26, 2021
Updated: Oct 7, 2024

The best community colleges provide an effective springboard into higher education, offering students high-quality two-year degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The top-rated community colleges in Maryland offer a broad selection of associate’s degrees, affordable tuition rates, and strong partnerships with public four-year schools so that students can easily transfer their credits into accredited bachelor’s degree programs.

Key Takeaways

Many top community colleges in Maryland, such as Anne Arundel Community College, have articulation agreements with institutions like the University of Maryland, allowing for seamless credit transfer and guaranteed admission to bachelor’s degree programs for students who meet certain criteria.
With Maryland being a hub for technology and life sciences, community colleges like Montgomery College offer cutting-edge programs in cybersecurity, biotechnology, and data science, providing students with access to advanced labs, industry certifications, and internships with local tech companies and research institutions.
Maryland’s community colleges, especially those near Washington, D.C., provide unique internship and job placement opportunities with federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense, offering students practical experience in government-related fields such as public policy, healthcare, and security.

10 Best Community Colleges in Maryland in 2025

Anne Arundel Community College
Montgomery College
Community College of Baltimore County
+2
Cecil College
–1
Prince George's Community College
+1
Baltimore City Community College
+4
College of Southern Maryland
Howard Community College
Garrett College
–5
Hagerstown Community College
+3

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

In 2025, the top ten schools in our ranking of the best community colleges in Maryland saw a considerable amount of movement. Baltimore City Community College gained the most ranking positions as a result of the school developed its Healthcare and Allied Health Programs, with new state-of-the-art simulation labs that offer hands-on training in nursing, medical technology, and emergency services.

The college has also enhanced its Workforce Development Center, providing more opportunities for career training in high-demand fields such as cybersecurity, business, and logistics, with expanded partnerships with local employers for internships and job placement.

We’ve identified 16 community colleges in Maryland. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Maryland.